Gadsden, city, seat (1866) of Etowah county, northeastern Alabama, U.S. It is situated on the Coosa River in the Appalachian foothills, 65 miles (105 km) northeast of Birmingham. The original farming settlement was known as Double Springs, and the town was founded there in 1846 as a steamboat station. It was renamed for James Gadsden, who later negotiated the Gadsden Purchase (1853) of territory from Mexico. Adjacent Alabama City was annexed by Gadsden in 1932.

Spirit of American Citizenship Monument, Gadsden, Ala.

Prestinian

Gadsden’s economy is primarily based on poultry processing and the manufacture of steel, appliances, automotive parts, and wood products. Health care is an important service industry. The city is the site of Gadsden State Community College (1985). The waterfall at the city’s Noccalula Falls Park drops more than 90 feet (27 metres) over a ridge of Lookout Mountain into a ravine. The park also contains historical sites and a botanical garden. The Gadsden Museum of Arts is in the city. H. Neely Henry Lake (south) and Weiss Lake (northeast), both created by dams on the Coosa, provide recreational opportunities. Riverfest, a music festival, is held annually in May. Inc. 1871. Pop. (2000) 38,978; Gadsden Metro Area,103,459; (2010) 36,856; Gadsden Metro Area, 104,430.

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constituent state of the United States of America, admitted in 1819 as the 22nd state. Alabama forms a roughly rectangular shape on the map, elongated in a north-south direction. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, and Mississippi to the west. The Florida panhandle blocks...

river flowing through northwestern Georgia and eastern Alabama, U.S. It is formed by the confluence of the Etowah and Oostanaula rivers at Rome, Ga., and flows southward for 286 mi (460 km) through the Appalachian Ridge and Valley region into the Gulf coastal plain at Wetumpka, Ala. Its initial...

great highland system of North America, the eastern counterpart of the Rocky Mountains. Extending for almost 2,000 miles (3,200 km) from the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador to central Alabama in the United States, the Appalachian Mountains form a natural barrier between the eastern...